GLENDALE–The Armenian National Committee–Political Action Committee on Wednesday announced its recommendations for the Tuesday–June 2–primary elections.
"As the general public may be aware–ordinarily the ANC-PAC makes recommendations and endorsemen’s for the November general elections only–not the primaries," stated Avo Donoyan–member of the ANC-PAC. "However–because of the unusually high number of inquiries we have received this year–the PAC decided to publicly announce its recommendations for selected races and initiatives," explained Donoyan.
The ANC-PAC urges that–on June 2–Armenian-Americans of California go to the polls and cast their vote for the following state and local candidates and initiatives:
California State Insurance Commissioner: The ANC-PAC urges Armenian-American voters to cast their vote for Republican incumbent Charles Quackenbush. During his tenure as Insurance Commissioner–Quackenbush has demonstrated a commitment to working with the Armenian-American community on issues of mutual interest as well as exploring ways in which the Insurance Commissioner’s Office can be of greater assistance to the community.
The ANC-PAC strongly urges all voters–Democrat or Republican–to not vote for Democratic candidate Diane Martinez.
As a member of the California State Assembly–Martinez recklessly repeated Turkish revisionist argumen’s distorting and denying the occurrence of the Armenian Genocide and spoke in favor of the establishment of Turkish government funded Turkish studies programs at American universities. Martinez has attempted to justify her outrageous position in support of expanding Turkish misinformation in American academia by invoking the concept of academic freedom. Martinez is married to Professor Jon Mandeville of Portland State University–who is often cited by the Turkish lobby as an American scholar who rejects the idea that the Ottoman Turks perpetrated a Genocide against the Armenia’s. During her short tenure in public office–Martinez has consistently demonstrated a gross lack of judgment and ability as a legislator and–as a result–has proven herself unfit for elected office.
Proposition 227: The ANC-PAC urges Armenian-Americans to vote No on this initiative. If passed–this initiative would significantly reduce the number and quality of programs designed to provide bilingual instruction to California public school students who have difficulty with reading–writing and speaking English. While the ANC-PAC urges all Armenian-Americans students to strive to learn proper English–the ANC-PAC believes that this initiative is not the most effective way to achieve this objective.
Armenian-American State and Local Candidates:
California State Senate: The ANC-PAC encourages Armenian-Americans living in the San Francisco Bay Area to support Jackie Speer–a Democrat running in the 8th District.
Armenia’s living in the Sacramento area are urged to support Chris Quackenbush–a Republican running in the 6th District.
In addition–Fresno area Armenian-Americans are urged to support longtime advocate for the advancement of Armenian issues–Charles "Chuck" Poochigian in his unopposed challenge to win the 14th District seat.
California State Assembly: The ANC-PAC encourages Armenian-Americans living in the 74th Assembly District–which includes much of Northern San Diego and the Carlsbad area–to cast their vote for incumbent Republican–Howard Kaloogian.
In addition to these races for state offices–the ANC-PAC urges the Armenia’s of San Luis Obispo County–to vote for Katcho Achadjian in the 4th District County Board of Supervisor race and incumbent Deran Koligian of Fresno–in the District 1–Fresno County Board of Supervisor race.
California Court of Appeals: The ANC-PAC also encourages Armenian-Americans to re-elect the following Los Angeles and Ventura County Appellate Court Justices–Earl Johnson–Jr.–Orville Armstrong–Elizabeth Baron–Paul Coffee–Mario Fukuto–Arthur Gilbert–Richard Neal–Vaino Spencer–Charles Vogel and John Zebrowski.
The ANC-PAC has determined these Appellate Court justices to be capable and responsible jurists.
"Naturally–the races for the US Senate–Congress–Governor and Attorney General are of great interest to the Armenian-American community–and the ANC-PAC will be making its recommendations for those races prior to the general election in November," concluded Donoyan.
